Saturday, December 7, 2013

Steven van der Hagen

In 2010 I wrote about Steven van der Hagen, a Dutch admiral born in Amersfoort with a very interesting life story. Commenter Marnix de Paula Lopes, a direct descendent (!), pointed out to me that the accompanying picture was not the correct one. He is writing a book about his ancestors, and was kind enough to direct me to the better picture shown above.

Steven van der Hagen King John III of Portugal, 1535. To spare time book printers used the same print multiple times.

One of the revelations in his book will be that here might be a connection between the family of Steven's mother and one of the main founders of the Dutch Republic, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (they share the same coat of arms). Marnix's website is filled with interesting historical info in both Dutch and English.

Public beheading of fellow Amersfortian Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (age 71), by then the most important politician in The Netherlands, on behalf of the Prince of Orange, at the Binnenhof in The Hague, May 1619. He is leaning on his walking stick, three museums claim to have this cane in their collection.